Paranormal Encounters in Iceland 1150–1400

This Anthology Of International Scholarship Offers New Critical Approaches To The Study Of The Many Manifestations Of The Paranormal In The Middle Ages. The Guiding Principle Of The Collection Is To Depart From Symbolic Or Reductionist Readings Of The Subject Matter In Favor Of Focusing On The Paranormal As Human Experience And, Essentially, On How These Experiences Are Defined By The Sources. The Authors Work With A Variety Of Medieval Icelandic Textual Sources, Including Family Sagas, Legendary Sagas, Romances, Poetry, Hagiography And Miracles, Exploring The Diversity Of Paranormal Activity In The Medieval North. This Volume Questions All Previous Definitions Of The Subject Matter, Most Decisively The Idea Of Saga Realism, And Opens Up New Avenues In Saga Research. Frontmatter -- Contents -- Introduction: The Paranormal Encounter -- Part I: Experiencing The Paranormal -- “i See Dead People”: The Externalization Of Paranormal Experience In Medieval Iceland -- It Was A Dark And Stormy Night: Haunted Saga Homesteads, Climate Fluctuations, And The Vulnerable Self -- Happy Endings: The (para)normality Of Miracles -- Þórgunna’s Dinner And Other Medieval Liminal Meals: Food As Mediator Between This World And The Hereafter -- A Troll Did It?: Trauma As A Paranormal State In The Íslendingasögur -- Traversing The Uncanny Valley: Glámr In Narratological Space -- On The Threshold: The Liminality Of Doorways -- The Burial Of Body Parts In Old Icelandic Grágás -- Paranormal Prose: “para-narrative” And Ice In The Icelandic Sagas -- Part Ii: Figures Of The Paranormal -- Encounters With Hliðskjálf In Old Norse Mythology -- “ok Flýgr þat Jafnan”: Icelandic Figurations Of Böðvarr Bjarki’s Monster -- Demons, Muslims, Wrestling Champions: The Semantic History Of Blámenn From The Twelfth To The Twentieth Century -- The New Faith Vs. The Undead: Christmas Showdowns -- Following Up On Female Fylgjur: A Re-examination Of The Concept Of Female Fylgjur In Old Icelandic Literature -- Dólgr í Byggðinni: Meeting The Social Monster In The Sagas Of Icelanders -- Part Iii: Literature And The Paranormal -- Even A Henchman Can Dream: Dreaming At The Margins In Brennu-njáls Saga -- A Normal Relationship?: Jarl Hákon And Þorgerðr Hǫlgabrúðr In Icelandic Literary Context -- Priest Ketill’s Journey To Rome -- “darraðarljóð” And Its Context Within Njáls Saga: Sorcery, Vision, Leizla? -- Paranormal Tendencies In The Sagas: A Discussion About Genre -- Reading The Landscape In Grettis Saga: Þórhallur, The Meinvættur, And Glámur -- Trolling Guðmundr: Paranormal Defamation In Ljósvetninga Saga -- “meir Af Viel En Karlmennsku”: Monstrous Masculinity In Viktors Saga Ok Blávus -- Index Ed. By Ármann Jakobsson, Miriam Mayburd. Mode Of Access: Internet Via World Wide Web. In English.